The live drafts work fine with plain design. The hitch is the system doesn’t automatically pick for absent owners. So every round you have to wait the full 1:30 for an absent team to be assigned a player.

When assigning, Yahoo! wil fill starting spots first with the highest available player. So even if Cedric Benson is still on the board in the third round, if you already have two RBs, it will assign you a player at a position with an opening in a starting slot. So if you aren’t at your computer, come the eighth round, you stand a chance of being assigned a kicker.

Waiver policy works based on the number of days a player has been on the wire, rather than week-to-week (which we prefer). This means, if smeone cuts Calvin Johnson on Thursday, you can stil pick him up in time to start him on Sunday. Since waivers are processed daily rather than weekly, waiver position fluctuates based on who made the last waiver claim.

Can’t cut list is fine. Rankings are fairly accurate. You can import your own rankings. You have to schedule drafts ahead of time, normally a day or so ahead of time. You have the option of creating your own league.

You can have four teams per username. The logo options are very limited (two or three different helmet and jersey designs in various colors, or your avatar).

Yahoo! loses points for its waiver system and the delay to draft. Otherwise a very workable site.

Score: 7

ESPN

ESPN wins big with their live draft lobby, meaning you can hope in and draft virtually anytime day or night (it shuts down around 3 a.m.). You can create your own league and set the draft time. Scoring is basic 50/50. Roster is QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, TE, PK, DEF, 7 bench. Weekly waivers.

Playoffs are nicely done here. Only four teams make it, but each matchup is a two-week game (totals from both weeks determine winner). Only drawback is that Week 17 helps determine champion, and often NFL teams that have qualified for the playoffs sit some vital starters.

Live draft looks great and wins by marking absent owners for autopick if they’re not logged in after the first round, so you may have to wait 1:30 in the first round, but after that it will zip right through those picks. You can manipulate the rankings during the draft, which is nice.The hitch: It assigns players based on rankings, regardless of position. This helps those who are present because you know whoever is at the top of the ESPN rankings when the absent owner’s turn come up, that player will be chosen. It hurts because it makes it difficult for a high-ranking player to drop.

That said, ESPN’s rankings are absurd. Our favorite QB in the draft is Jon Kitna, who is being taken near the seventh round in most leagues. At ESPN, he often sticks until the 10th. That’s good for us, but the reason is ESPN has him ranked far too low (behind Matt Leinart and Philip Rivers, among others). So if you rely on ESPN’s rankings, you’re going to end up with some bad picks.

But you can have what appears to be an unlimited number of teams. Logo option is drab. You can chose one letter and background in various colors. This option seemed to be on the fritz recently, however.

Score: 8

Fox Sports

You can create your own or join public. Scoring is basic. You can have up to five teams.Roster is QB, RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, TE, PK, DEF, 6 bench. Two-day waivers. Playoffs begin Week 14.

You have to schedule live drafts ahead of time. Sometimes it takes a day or two longer to get an opening than at Yahoo!.

Draft platform works well and looks good. Rankings are solid. Player assign is by rank, not position. Unlike Yahoo! and ESPN, it is tough to track down an quick link to your team. It’s there on the right-hand side after you scroll a bit, but it’s not as easy as it should be.

Logo option is great. You have several differnt icons to chose from and can dress them in different apparel or (and we love this) you can upload your own image.

Loses points for the difficulty scheduling a draft and daily waivers.

Score: 7

CBS Sportsline

The biggest problem with the CBS public leagues is the scheduling. There are no “immediate” public leagues, which means every public league was created by an individual. The scoring varies based on the creator/commissioner.

As such, the FT hasn’t engaged in a draft a CBS as yet, so we can’t comment on the functionality. We do know you can upload your own logo, which is a plus. Assuming the live platform is as good as ESPN or Fox, we give CBS …

Score: 6

AOL.com

Well, at least it wasn;’t hard to schedule a drafct. We were able to book a time on the same day, which is more than Fox or CBS could offer.

And the good stuff stops there. We’ve had a terrible time logging in to this site. If we don’t visit AOL.com and log in first, then immediately go to a bookmarked AOL fanasty page, we can’t get in.

The draft worked fine, but it had a throwback look, and not in a good way. This wasn’t cool throwback Pat Patriot throwback. This was more Houston Rocket pinstripe forgettable. It would have been revolutionary 10 years ago, but it doesn’t hold up today. Plus no logo options.

Score: 3

Fanball.com

This has a rather important drawback, it is not free. For $10, you get 2 teams.

Nevertheless, this is our personal favorite. It gives you an e-mail draft option, which the FT loves. The Commissioner can set the itme limit and adjust it as the draft progress. They also offer a live option. roster QB, RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, TE, PK, DEF, 7 bench. 10-team leagues are 2 divisions, 12- and 14-team leagues are three divisions. Six-team playoff with wild-cards and byes beginning Week 14 and ending Week 16.

Here’s the big kicker: You can trade draft picks! The only catch at fanball is that every trade must be for an equal number players or picks. So you can just ship a 2nd and 3rd rounder for a 1st rounder, you have to get two picks in return.

Another big plus: You ave an “overtime” player. Each week, you assign an overtime player who is not in your starting lineup. In the event of a time, the OT player wil determine the winner. If OT players tie, then your stuck with a tie.

Logo option had some difficulty last year, and it is a bit limiting (odd shape must be met precisely). Have ability for really long team names.

Only significant deduction comes with the entry fee. Other than that, we wish other sites we more like fanball.